Daemonorg Prison-Lab: A Dark LitRPG / LitFPS SciFi-Shooter (Overtaken Online Book 1)

by Ben Ormstad

  The second one suddenly flew and head-butted me from the side, sending me stumbling into the wall.

  -5 Armor

  -3 HP

  I regained balance, swung the blade and cut it across the snout. A bit of flesh separated and thumped on the ground.

  Now the first one returned and head-butted me from the other side, also catching me with the flapping propels. They spun into the side of my head, ripping open the skin on my temple. My own blood sprayed across my forehead, stung in my eyes and momentarily blinded me.

  -3 Armor

  -10 HP

  Redness blinked like static in my field of view. My health was getting low, and the armor chest plate barely hung on. This isn’t working, I thought panicky. I’m neither equipped nor skilled enough to deal with these monsters!

  The dreaded “AAAAH”s reverberated all the way into the deepest parts of my brain. Both eye-light beams showered over me as the drone-heads aligned themselves close to each other – probably because the power of the energy clusters would magnify if they were released in proximity.

  “I can’t do this,” I gasped, sheathed the machete, ran deeper into the dark room and looked for anything at all that might assist me.

  “AAAAAAH!” followed me like an unstoppable Freddy Krueger in a nightmare on fuckin’ Elm Street.

  As I ran, I grabbed the last Ball-Buster grenade. The last resort. The last chance. My. Last. Hope. Hence, in a last-ditch attempt I stopped, the boot soles screeched on the floor and I rotated around and faced them. They huddled together near to the ground, still blocking the way out. Their mouths closed around the intensely crackling energy clusters inside, ready to fire the deadly electricity at me.

  “Not today,” I yelled, bit down on the grenade pin. Ripped it out. Held on to the grenade for a second, until the drone-heads opened their mouths again, then threw the explosive ball right at them just as they spit the energy out. I wasn’t going to stick around to watch it, but glimpsed the impact in my side-view as I jumped behind a bed and a bench.

  The sparking energy from their clusters ignited the Ball-Buster grenade upon colliding with it, right in front of their ugly-ass faces.

  The entire entrance of the room blew up. The building shook as the grenade and electricity clusters mixed and fused into a deadly concoction. The “AAAAAH”s and the propeller flapping were swallowed by an explosion greater than anything I’d witnessed until now. Screaming from the overwhelming shockwave, I lost my grip and blew across the room with beds, shelves, equipment and whatever else not bolted to the building structure itself.

  During the tumultuous blast, consciousness left me.

  26

  For some reason, a sense of Lily’s face clung to my foggy mind when I struggled to open my eyelids. Her face twitched in a grimace, eyes flickering around like Ayamii’s fleeting gaze, and her purple hair hung unruly around her shoulders. Vague echoes of her voice, scared, spiraled deep in my head, just outside of conscious reach. Had I been awakened from the game reality, or had just a strange dream appeared while I was blacked out? Everything was hazy, far away and unreal.

  I felt more like a detached witness than an active participant in the body’s first movements as it turned over and crawled to its knees. It was funny how elbows, wrists and other joints creaked as if they hadn’t been used in a while. Funny, because they were virtual, because this character’s body and the entire reality it existed in was virtual. Merely processed by a game engine feeding my brain a data stream enabling it to render the experience in my mind. Or something.

  In any case, the game developers had an incredible sense of detail. Either that, or perhaps my mind actually added some details to the experience based on the knowledge of being alive. Maybe it filled in small things, just like the creaking knee joints, in the same way the brain automatically filled in and covered the eye’s blind spot.

  Not until the body had climbed halfway up and my elbows met the hard surface of an overturned shelf, did I notice the intensely blinking redness in my vision, or the sound of a female voice coming from my waist. The smell of scorched electronics reached my nose as I fumbled with semi-numb hands to find out what created the sound. Slowly, the voice made sense, and by the time I realized it was the walkie-talkie, I understood it was Frida:

 

  Shoulders aching, I pushed myself to my feet. Stabbing pain shot down my spine. I picked the two-way radio from the belt, appreciated the fact the antenna hadn’t broken, and pressed the big push-to-talk button on the side. The hard plastic dug into my thumb as it clicked loudly “Yeah,” I grumbled, voice barely legible. “I’m here.”

  After some crackling static, I heard her sigh.

  Five minutes? I thought, shook my head. It felt like I’d been gone an hour, at least. “It was an explosion, you’re right about that. And you won’t believe what nightmarish enemies I’ve just faced.” Goosebumps rippled through me and the hairs on my arms stood on end just thinking about the flying metal-human-dog-drones and the creepy-as-fuck AAAAH’ing as they charged up to unleash their deadly energy clusters. I forced the mental images back down into my unconscious.

  the walkie-talkie crackled.

  “Never mind. How’s everything with you guys – did you find the locker room?”

 

  “… but?”

  Ayamii’s strangely high-pitched voice answered:

  I clutched the radio harder. The red flickering in my vision intensified. “You mean it’s all gone?”

 

  “You don’t think it’s possible you just forgot where you originally saw it? Perhaps it was another, almost identical locker room?”

 

  The voice changed back to Frida: She made a contemplative snort.

  “Fuck,” I whispered, without pressing the talk-button, then pressed it and said: “But if you’ve been here before, why don’t you remember the area?”

  A sigh crackled from the speaker.

  “Alright, take it easy – I was just curious,” I said. “But did either of you see anything indicating whether someone has been there and moved it? For instance, did you see footprints, scratches from the stash’s container or any other telling clues?”

  Both their voices crackled a ‘no’.

  “Oh well, no worries, we’ll find it anyway, I’m sure. Somehow.”

 

  “I’m currently in what I believe to be a sort of laboratory,” I said, slowly letting my eyes wander across broken beds, computers, specialized equipment, shelves and tables spread around the dark room. The dust had settled and nothing was burning. Silence lay thick and hazy through the throbbing pain behind my forehead. “It’s the, uh, middle one of three adjacent rooms along a long wall. Just outside, I think there used to be a bunch of large plants and statues separating the area between the entrance into the biotech lab facility – or whatever it’s called – and these rooms. But I don’t know for sure what it looked like because my grenade blasted it to hell before I entered. Also, I think there are two more labs on oppo
site sides of that area, like a T… If that makes sense. Sounds familiar, Ayamii?”

  Five seconds passed before he answered:

  “I take it you’re close by, then?”

 

  “Good,” I said, shoved away some broken medical equipment and walked toward the entrance, where the smell of roasted drone-heads came from. “Meet me at the main connection point as soon as possible.”

  Frida’s voice took over:

  I bit the insides of my cheeks. First and foremost, I thought, we should stick together in case more crazy motherfuckers pop up. Instead, I said: “Sure, that’s probably smart. Comb the vicinity and let me know when you’re done. Meanwhile, I’ll look around here.”

 

  I clipped the talkie back on my belt, leaned on a broken bed and swiped a hand across my face. Even the skin itself hurt. I checked my health.

  18 HP

  The explosion had sent me flying and almost killed me when I smashed into the wall. No wonder I lost consciousness and felt like utter shit. Before anything else out of my control suddenly happened, I grabbed the 1/2 MedKit from the backpack and used it.

  +60 HP

  A surge of energy flooded my system as my HP went up to 78. I had 95 consumables, so munched enough of them to replenish my health completely.

  +42 HP

  Like being infused with living light, subtle vibrations tingled through every cell in my body. All wounds, aches and sores immediately vanished, leaving me fresh as a newborn baby and feeling strong as Kratos in his prime. I stretched arms, legs and back. Everything felt awesome.

  “Amazing, this is,” I said to myself, smiling. Nothing could compare to feeling on the brink of death from injury, and then, just like the flick of a switch, you were instantly perfectly fine, feeling better than ever. Like magic. The power of virtual reality, I thought and smiled even broader. Walking toward the dead enemies, I checked the withheld battle-related notifications.

  *

  Killed 8 Daemonorg Troopers – Level 3

  +240 XP

  *

  Killed 3 Bio-Drone Screamers – Level 4

  +120 XP

  *

  Battle-Marine Ability Increased!

  +2% Throwing Weapons Bonus

  *

  So the big, bad flying heads are called Bio-Drone Screamers, huh? I see why. And level 4, all of them. Shit. I felt a bit proud. I really did. Most likely, though, I probably wouldn’t have made it if it weren’t for the powerful result of the Ball-Buster grenade colliding with their energy clusters. Maybe it would be possible to craft electro-infused grenades at some point or another? In that case, count me in!

  Also, I was happy to see I’d increased my Throwing Weapons ability after all the major chaos the Ball-Buster grenades had caused. The ability progression seemed fair.

  Scorched materials crunched under the soles of my boots as I closed in on the dead bio-drone screamers. Sparks from ripped cables sticking out of cracks in the walls briefly lit the broken entrance. The door had blown off its hinges and taken parts of the surrounding frame and wall with it. Light from the area outside came in through the opening, illuminating whiffs of smoke twirling up from the metal-fused heads. One of them was ripped apart by the explosion, another roasted black, and the third more or less intact. I crouched by it, touched the metal part and slid my fingers down to the skin. Inspecting the stitched seams between metal and skin, caked by dried blood, nausea coiled in my stomach.

  How did the daemonorgs create them? A perfect example of genetic modification running amok. I could only guess how they came up with the idea for something like this. One day, a bright-eyed Hannibal Lecter-type suddenly just got this grrreat idea to splice human and dog heads – and then, you know, why not just keep the severed heads artificially alive by connecting them to fucking drones? And, he probably kept rambling psycho ideas – why not, like, just do some more crazy shit and give them the ability to conjure and spit electrical bursts of energy balls or whatever?

  On second thought, I suspected the scientists working on it discovered the ability by accident and then realized it would be clever to give them the freedom to fly around and zap shit up. However they accomplished it, they were a bunch of sick fucks that needed to be stopped.

  The answer to how they were able to spit clusters of energy might have been revealed when I examined them closer. Other than 140 Scrap, I was able to crack open a cover in the back of their heads, under the propellers. Careful not to break anything, I loosened a glass capsule and held it up to the light falling in from the broken doorway. Inside, I saw slightly red-illuminated incandescent wire filament, like what usually was inside lightbulbs – except these seemed to glow on their own.

  “So, do these contain the secret to your electrical magic?” I mused and pocketed the two that looked intact.

  +2 Electro Cores (req. 1 Item Slot per 10 cores)

  Electro Cores might be used to power anything with a fitting slot, just like a regular fuse or an electric generator.

  What make Electro Cores special, however – with the correct equipment and know-how – is that they may be used to add electrical abilities to a wide range of different weapons, tools, machinery and even biological systems.

  … and even biological systems, my mind repeated. Meaning living beings, like people? That’s incredible. Well, not really, this was a game. I just kept forgetting it since everything looked and felt so real. Now I had to find someone with the know-how to implement the cores in some meaningful way with something else – or maybe even with me. Wouldn’t that be a blast?

  Equipping a torch, I used the sparks from the broken cables in the walls to ignite it. It flashed in a bright, orangey flame spreading light in a decent radius around me. Staying aware of any sounds or movements other than my own, I searched everything in the current room with the flickering torchlight held high.

  While looking through a bunch of documents from a destroyed shelf, something glimmered in the corner of my eye. I pushed aside some junk and arrived at a cabinet with glass doors. Not touched by the destruction, it stood there intact, four reddish vials visible through the doors. The butt of the torch worked perfectly to smash the glass. After a second of hesitation, I collected all the vials, feeling the heat radiating from them in my palm.

  +40 MP

  Still didn’t know what to do with the Magic Points, but it would definitely come in handy as my path to becoming a Cyber-Mage got more focused.

  With a snake’s speed, I turned to the sound of scratching behind me.

  “Hey!” I said, waved the torch toward a shadow flickering on the wall. “Who’s there?”

  Quick, small feet rattled across the floor among the clutter.

  I knew it most likely just was a rodent, still, I rushed after it. “Wait!”

  The rattling ended when the creature disappeared into a crack in the wall on the opposite side of the room, vis-à-vis the entrance. This was where the first energy cluster had zapped everything. I lit the way with the torch and traced a series of cracks that went from the wall and down to the floor. A fallen sign lay crushed next to a snapped mattress with no bed. I didn’t understand what the symbol meant, but it nevertheless evoked a sense of something rather… eery.

  I crouched and lifted it. Underneath a layer of dust and ashes, a ring was buried. After brushing some of it away, I uncovered a hatch. The ring was its handle. Sliding two fingers into it, I pulled. Heavy like lifting a manhole cover, it gave off a squeaking sound as it reluctantly opened. More dust puffed out and whirled around me. Assisting with a knee, I swung it all the way open. It thwacked against the wall.

  My face twitched in an involuntary grimace as I stared down the utterly black hole. The torch flame lit the top part of a white-painted staircase, until shadows and darkness swallowed all visibility a couple of me
ters further down.

  Shooting glances to the sides and behind me, just to make sure there still wasn’t anyone around, I cursed under my breath.

  “I have to do this,” I whispered. The sense of need was too intense not to follow it. My throat clicked as I swallowed. “No stress.”

  I stepped carefully down the staircase. One step at a time. The leather boots creaked and the torch flame fluttered audibly. As the hole devoured me, dead silence lay thick in every direction.

  The sense of need escalated as I reached the floor. An odor of antiseptic, iron and something rotten. Sweat made the pistol grip slippery in my palm. Holding it tighter, I waved the torch around in a slow motion with the other hand, letting the flame’s light wash over the interior.

  A room the size of a big elevator. Like the rest of this area, the walls, floor and ceiling were all white. Straight ahead a polished metal door with a locking mechanism box-thing on the right side. A red LED-light blinked off and on. In other words, Ayamii should have been here. Another door was located to the left. This one not polished metal, but simply white.

  I walked up to the door ahead. The sense of need intensified. I gripped the doorknob and tried opening it.

  Beep! Beep!

  For a second, the red locking mechanism light stopped blinking and shone a continuous red instead.

  “No surprise there,” I said out loud. Perhaps to keep my cool. Turning to the door on the left, it opened without hesitation. Before entering, I waved the torch through the doorway.

  An even smaller room. Black computer screens, keyboards, printers, coffee cups and other stuff reflected the flickering light. Holding the pistol leveled, I stepped in while letting my eyes roam freely to pick up anything out of the ordinary. Well… not that anything wasn’t out of the ordinary here, but yeah.